08-01-2016, 02:35 PM
Once the hard part was done, I faded into the background, giving my daughter and her family time to bond. Those first moments with a new babe are one of the most precious experiences in life, and my heart is light as I watch them, leaning up against the trunk of the willow tree and smiling as little Roma takes her first steps, speaks her first word--and knocks her brother to his knees.
I remember that feeling, and my heart aches for my little brother, so long lost to this world. Mine, from the moment he was born. So much more than he was ever our mother’s. She left us not long after, and I was his world that first year. Then he was more independent, and I was already half in love with my best friend and all wrapped up in her. Tycho will do a better job of holding on tight.
He’ll take better care of his sister than I did of my brother.
Don’t be stupid. You did great. And I don’t regret fighting for you for a second. Besides, if I’d lived, who’d shadow your strange little angel and keep her from getting into just a little too much trouble? I can feel him next to me, borrowing the strength and solidity of the willow tree to offer love and support, and I lean into him and smile.
Her brother, perhaps?
Not always. Strange needs herself a team of guardians, don’t you know that? Before I can thank him, he is gone, a brush of ghostly silver lips against my cheek before he vanishes. Still, it was enough. I breathe out a long, slow breath and then open my eyes to see the four of them cuddled up together looking so damn perfect.
Halo is already wriggling with impatience, so I push off the trunk and make my way over to brush my lips against my new granddaughter’s forehead and play with her little black baby mane. Black and blue, just like I used to wear all the time. Well, like the much softer, lighter shade of it Ryss inherited anyhow. Blue from her mother, black from her father, and my Nocturnal’s golden eyes.
“Hello, love. You happy to finally be out and about, then?”
I remember that feeling, and my heart aches for my little brother, so long lost to this world. Mine, from the moment he was born. So much more than he was ever our mother’s. She left us not long after, and I was his world that first year. Then he was more independent, and I was already half in love with my best friend and all wrapped up in her. Tycho will do a better job of holding on tight.
He’ll take better care of his sister than I did of my brother.
Don’t be stupid. You did great. And I don’t regret fighting for you for a second. Besides, if I’d lived, who’d shadow your strange little angel and keep her from getting into just a little too much trouble? I can feel him next to me, borrowing the strength and solidity of the willow tree to offer love and support, and I lean into him and smile.
Her brother, perhaps?
Not always. Strange needs herself a team of guardians, don’t you know that? Before I can thank him, he is gone, a brush of ghostly silver lips against my cheek before he vanishes. Still, it was enough. I breathe out a long, slow breath and then open my eyes to see the four of them cuddled up together looking so damn perfect.
Halo is already wriggling with impatience, so I push off the trunk and make my way over to brush my lips against my new granddaughter’s forehead and play with her little black baby mane. Black and blue, just like I used to wear all the time. Well, like the much softer, lighter shade of it Ryss inherited anyhow. Blue from her mother, black from her father, and my Nocturnal’s golden eyes.
“Hello, love. You happy to finally be out and about, then?”